3. How will instructors know when they are providing quality online and blended courses? How will faculty, programs, or the campus know whether the course was a good course? What tools or services could be provided for evaluating the effectiveness of online and blended courses? How will quality be communicated to the larger campus (e.g., students, faculty, administration, etc.)?
(Please make sure to give your group a name and use that name as a heading when you insert your summary of your conversations.)
Tanya's Group
Our group discussed...
Carole's group
How will instructors know they are providing quality online and blended courses? We can ask the students. We can compare their performance with that of students in the classroom. Look at enrollments. Students get the word out – Rate my professor, Facebook. But a popular course is not necessarily a good course.
We need students to communicate that the course had as much content, was as challenging, as a classroom course.
Establish good objectives and outcomes. Help faculty create objectives and program goals that are designed for the special needs of online courses, objectives must be aligned with course materials, and then assessments must actually assess whether you have achieved these goals.
Student feedback should be collected throughout the course, not just at the end.
If you are doing really cool projects online, there should be a forum for sharing with the wider campus.
People need recognition for what they are doing. How do you recognize them in a way that is meaningful to them and motivating to others?
Right Corner Group
Quality Matter rubrics lead quality on our campus.
F2F course sometimes needs some re-design before putting the course online.
Student evaluations-return rate is less than F2F courses.
Academic affairs runs all course evaluations F2F or online.
Mid-Semester Assessment
Module level online assessment-survey or open ended questions on what worked or didn’t work in that module.
MOG—Moments of Glory. Blog to share moments of glory in the course.
Enrollment rate is sometimes looked at for summer classes.
GROUP - Front Left Table Speaker: Carolyn
Quality Matters (also used informally internally)
Can be costly to subscribe.
Research and Data behind QM rubric (for accreditation purposes).
Qm revamped their rubric and increased points, added more criteria to respond to criticism regarding student learning elements.
Custom course review rubric internally (Edison and Pasco-Hernando)
Incorporates some ideas from QM and other institutional rubrics.
Mentor programs
Paradise Valley
Unofficial, helping others
Share courses as a foundation
Stipend for development only pad for initial development process as a template for adjuncts
Built-in customization options in the “master” courses
Pasco-Hernando
QEP in FL over five years; grow online resources for students.
5 mentors paid a stipend to FT faculty by year (2-3 payments per year)
Required training
Serve as arm to other campuses
2-3 years; application process
Referral form and a mentee is referred by Dean, Provost, Dept Chair or themselves
ISDs taking over the program
Measuring effectiveness for SACS
Course showcases to demonstrate ways to set up courses
Model courses developed and left open for review in Canvas (linked on the website as Spotlight Courses).
Try to feature some as they are developed.
Highlighting courses as examples and models of good online courses
Consistency in courses in some form
Using modules in Canvas for consistency, ADA compliance, etc
Consistent navigation or explanation of navigation
Must include items
“Start Here” button on homepage to describe how to navigate the course
human element to the environment (presence)
campus resources
Courses developed and taught in one pilot semester; edits made and then courses are archived for use by adjuncts
Distance learning department
Sends separate online survey for online students
Instructors do not get the results because they are for the design of the course
Instructors encouraged to conduct their own feedback on the course design
Office of Institutional Effectiveness - assess all courses; not great at getting results back to instructors.
Trailblazers
-CC - Change is more difficult after a while. Best to start early. Possibly have a self-reflection on the mentees. Evaluate with weeks two and six five times a year out of eight weeks
-EU - No authority for staff. Only review courses on the QM Rubric
-UND - Forming committee for learning online
-AU - main area of focus in the entry level course to form quality control since its pivotal in the students' academic careers with guidelines and boundaries
How to approach the new student population and motivate the instructors.
-Would the quality and content be the same as online and onsite?
Quality communicated
-CC - Communicate through the faculty village
-Communicate through faculty forum at AU
Back of the Room
Speaker: Michelle
Student feedback
formal survey, course evaluation
informal feedback
weekly formative feedback from students
assessment by college of students (pre and post tests)
Is the assessment for retention purposes (high stakes)
Is the assessment assessing the course, the course design or the instructor?
Structured peer conversations about a course
e.g.Quality Matters
Strict review policy for courses
Timing matters – are there times when faculty are less busy?
Put a schedule up early
Topic or agenda
Meet them where they’re at… Take the “buttonology” to the next step
(Please make sure to give your group a name and use that name as a heading when you insert your summary of your conversations.)
Tanya's Group
Our group discussed...
Carole's group
How will instructors know they are providing quality online and blended courses? We can ask the students. We can compare their performance with that of students in the classroom. Look at enrollments. Students get the word out – Rate my professor, Facebook. But a popular course is not necessarily a good course.
We need students to communicate that the course had as much content, was as challenging, as a classroom course.
Establish good objectives and outcomes. Help faculty create objectives and program goals that are designed for the special needs of online courses, objectives must be aligned with course materials, and then assessments must actually assess whether you have achieved these goals.
Student feedback should be collected throughout the course, not just at the end.
If you are doing really cool projects online, there should be a forum for sharing with the wider campus.
People need recognition for what they are doing. How do you recognize them in a way that is meaningful to them and motivating to others?
Right Corner Group
GROUP - Front Left Table
Speaker: Carolyn
Trailblazers
-CC - Change is more difficult after a while. Best to start early. Possibly have a self-reflection on the mentees. Evaluate with weeks two and six five times a year out of eight weeks
-EU - No authority for staff. Only review courses on the QM Rubric
-UND - Forming committee for learning online
-AU - main area of focus in the entry level course to form quality control since its pivotal in the students' academic careers with guidelines and boundaries
How to approach the new student population and motivate the instructors.
-Would the quality and content be the same as online and onsite?
Quality communicated
-CC - Communicate through the faculty village
-Communicate through faculty forum at AU
Back of the Room
Speaker: Michelle
Student feedback
Is the assessment for retention purposes (high stakes)
Is the assessment assessing the course, the course design or the instructor?
Structured peer conversations about a course
Strict review policy for courses
Timing matters – are there times when faculty are less busy?
Meet them where they’re at… Take the “buttonology” to the next step